A travel blog really shouldbe written if one is actually traveling. I am sitting... sitting and reading...treading water. That really doesn't qualify as travel. Yesterday was a great day for sitting and reading and treading water....oh, I paddle boarded and kayaked too. It was a really nice day but there's not much to say about it. No news. But I've got some pictures that I'd like to post so I'll do that.So, I'll watch the sun come up and have my coffee on the beach and post some pictures.

There, in fact, is so little "news" that I am merging several days entries into one just to make it seem like we've done something significant. Yesterday, June 22, we lulled around and decided to go south to Rancho Leonaro to get a snack, maybe lunch. We usually have two quads and divide the 5 of us as evenly as possible to make the drive down there

. One of the quads is being used so we decided that if we were to go we would have to do 2, if by land and 3, if by sea. Steve took Nate and Chum and went on the Sea Doo and Madi and I took the quad. Madi and I pulled up close to the hotel property but Steve beached the Sea Doo further away. I watched him try to pull it up further to be sure it was grounded but he was unable to move it by himself. Afraid he would just figure it was "good enough" and leave it there, only to make the rest of the afternoon a fiasco once it floated out to sea, I walked to help him and with one great heave, proceeded to pull my low back out. We enjoyed some cold drinks at Rancho Leonaro and opted to return home for lunch. This time Madi drove me on the Sea Doo and it was the other 3 by land. Chum had seen some big manta rays and didn't want to get back in the water. We had a nice lunch at home and settled in by the pool. My back was tightening up by the minute and I could just barely walk up the path for my 3:30 massage...but I made it...in to the fiercely strong hands of Eva Clemente...consistently the best massage anywhere. Some how Steve had arranged for a birthday cake to be made and after some incredible coconut shrimp and a painfully loud mariachi serenade I had my cake, and I ate it too. Badda bing...and another year is gone.I took the kids to Barnes and Nobel to get some books for the summer and in spite of my desire to read something in the growing pile on my night stand I couldn't help myself and bought "the best book of the year"...The Family Fang

. I knew right away it was going to be mildly dark and a bit disturbing to me...and I was right. But I've enjoyed (?) it. Maybe it's just because the conditions are so right to read through a whole book here...something that never happens at home. Anyway, I've plowed through it with some level of enjoyment and today by the pool I finished it. What a total let down. It was like watching a balloon tightly filled with air, expectantly waiting for it to propel itself wildly around the room, until finally in the end, falls to the finish. Completed. Instead, once the scene was set and ready for something really big, really exciting...all the air is expelled in one, uneventful rush and you realize that it's done..and the ride was nothing like anticipated...but not in a good way. ...and I'm left with a book that I can't even pass on to some one. I think I'll leave it here at the hotel...without letting anyone see me do so.

June 23...more wrinkles. more sun spots. pool. no book. nice breeze. up 5 pounds or so.